I talk a lot about leadership and management. I share a lot of posts about the topic on Facebook and Twitter. I am currently involved in a mentoring program for emerging leaders in Wisconsin libraries.

But not everyone is meant to be a leader, in the traditional sense. In order for there to be leaders, they must have followers—they must have someone to lead. In libraries, we do have leaders, whether they are the library director, department head, or some other type of supervisors. And we have lots of other staff members, or people you might traditionally think of as followers.

But here’s the thing. Even if you aren’t a manager, you DO need to manage. Sometimes you need to “manage” your boss. This is often called “managing up.”

Some people think “managing up” is about manipulating your boss or managing her perceptions, but it’s not. It’s about working with your boss in the way that will produce the best possible results for your team, while at the same time making both your and your manager’s lives easier.